


It's Not The Fall That Kills You

by polyesterfootbob



Series: RWBY fics [6]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Missing Scene, mostly weiss focused, this is set immediately after the fall of beacon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:28:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26538115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polyesterfootbob/pseuds/polyesterfootbob
Summary: Beacon has fallen. Vale is in chaos. Everything is falling apart. Nothing will ever be the same.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna & Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee & Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc & Pyrrha Nikos & Lie Ren & Nora Valkyrie, Qrow Branwen & Ruby Rose
Series: RWBY fics [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1844821
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	It's Not The Fall That Kills You

_”We’ve gotta hurry!” Ruby shouted, growing more desperate. The rampaging Wyvern seemed as though it was drawing more and more grimm towards the now broken tower. Weiss looks around for a moment, before casting a series of glyphs up the side of the tower._

_“You can do this.”_

_Ruby runs forward, then uses her Semblance to propel herself up to the first glyph. She then sprints up the wall, the glyphs propelling her forward and keeping her from falling off._

__________________________________________

Weiss had replayed that moment in her head several times now. When the burning white light faded away, and any grimm that wasn't vaporised or turned to stone ran away, Weiss replayed it, fearing what just happened. 

Ruby ran up the tower, the Wyvern landed, and then everything went white. 

The second time she replayed it, is when Ruby’s unconscious body was carried into the airship taking them to the safe zone. She was brought in by her uncle, Qrow if she’s remembering correctly. The bravado and careless attitude that wafted off of him like the stench of old wine she’d come to loathe during his fight with Winter was gone. Weiss can’t exactly blame him for feeling not quite himself at the moment. 

It still felt odd seeing a man like Qrow softly weeping over Ruby’s body.

__________________________________________

The designated safe zone is one of Vale’s grimm shelters, currently guarded by local huntsmen and Atlas soldiers. It's crowded, it's cramped, but it’s the best they have for now. Ruby and Yang are in the med-bay, along with their uncle. Ren and Nora sat with Jaune, who is frantically checking his scroll signal, trying, perhaps against better judgement, to contact Pyrrha. Nobody wanted to say it, but they all feared the worst. Blake absentmindedly moved throughout the shelter, asking students if they were ok. She seemed...detached. She asked some twice, and some not at all.

For whatever reason, it was like she couldn't even look at Weiss.

It made her uneasy.

The unease wasn't helped by how far away she sat from everyone else. 

The announcement system crackles to life, yanking everyone out of their haze. It's Doctor Oobleck. According to him, with Beacon tower destroyed, the entire CCTS is down worldwide. And inter-kingdom comms aren't fairing much better.

Vale has been severed from the rest of the world

__________________________________________

It's been two days. More people have arrived in the shelter. According to Professor Port, the Wyvern corpse seems to be attracting more grimm. 

_Like a beacon…_ Weiss thought bitterly. 

Only one person was...let's say adventurous enough to venture back to the top of the tower, Ruby and Yang's uncle. How he got up there on his own is its own question. But when he got back, the question of 'why' was solved.

He was looking for the woman on the microphone. The one who gave the speech in the Amity coliseum. The woman who orchestrated Penny's death. Hell, this entire nightmare was almost certainly her fault. He brought whatever evidence he found, what seemed to be bits of black glass, over to Professor Goodwitch. From where Weiss is sitting in the makeshift cafeteria, she sees them share a look, as though the fact shards of black glass were found meant something gravely important. He walks over to Jaune, Nora and Ren, the three of them looking like they haven't slept in days, and brings them with him to...

Somewhere. Judging by the remorseful look on his face, and the bronze circlet attached to his hip. He had some bad news. Quite possibly the worst news.

Weiss cant take her eyes off the circlet. Jaune had said Pyrrha was fighting a woman at the top of the tower.

And that she didn't stand a chance.

Weiss couldn't tell if she started crying as she put two and two together, everything felt numb, her movement felt slow, labored. Everything feels disconnected.

__________________________________________

Day three. On the speakers an announcement went out. A search and arrest mission for team CMNE. Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, Noir Blanc, Emerald Sustrai.

Just hearing it felt surreal. Ruby at least seemed to be on good terms with Emerald, Mercury apparently _wasn't_ flown back to Haven, The girl in the black and white outfit with those piercing green eyes had apparently completely disappeared after the four versus four battle (was Noir even her real name?), and Cinder was the woman on the microphone.

The woman at the top of the tower.

Local law enforcement and Huntsmen have been sent out looking for them. The only security left was Atlas guards. 

Blake wasn't worried.

She’d snuck past them before.

She wanted to say goodbye, god did she want to. But staying here was putting everyone at risk. Adam had followed her to Beacon, it can’t be long until he’d find her here and make good on his word.

It was for the best.

At least, she keeps telling herself it is.

_I’m sorry…_

She slips out of the compound, un-seen under the gray sky…

Well, almost un-seen. 

__________________________________________

Professor Peach on the announcements. Two students reported missing. Blake Belladonna and Sun Wukong.

Yang could probably think of something bitter to say, something about Blake turning tail and running.

Again.

But she was tired. So, so tired.

She has decided that med-bay food sucks though. She’s sure Ruby would agree. If she were awake. She feels cold. It's weird. Ever since she woke up she could tell her aura wasn't engaged. She tried activating it a few times, but all it did was leave her nauseous. 

But nausea was a cakewalk to what was actually keeping her awake.

Bright red sword...deep black coat...hidden eyes...burning pain. 

It was all so fast…

She tries to cover her face, she doesn't want the nurses to see her cry.

Only one hand meets her face.

__________________________________________

The following days are hard. For everyone. Qrow finds Ozpin’s cane. The staff hold a funeral for him. It seems like every hour the list of confirmed casualties gets longer. 

Beacon’s campus is still teeming with grimm. Glynda has apparently been attempting minor reconstruction work whenever she’s away.

Ruby is still unconscious, apparently Qrow is trying to convince the General to let him bring her and Yang to their home, on Patch.

Blake and Sun are still nowhere to be found, leaving team SSSN completely in the dark.

Nora, Ren, and Jaune...if ‘shell shocked’ was a group of people, it would be them. Even team CRDL sent their condolences to them.

Weiss could feel it. The happy little life she carved out here was gone. Pushed off a building, plummeting at terminal velocity.

So her Father’s ship arriving over the horizon didn't surprise her. She quietly said her goodbyes, and made her way onboard.

As far as she’s concerned, her life has stopped.

A bit poetic, she thinks.

This, ‘Fall of Beacon’ had let her survive, only for the end of it to kill her in a way.

_I guess it's true, it's not the fall that kills you._

_It’s the sudden stop._


End file.
